Page 78 of Deliverance

The man drew his head back slightly. "Yous did it?" Ric leaned in and whispered something to him. The guy's eyes widened, and then he looked at Vicky. "Yous knew this whole time?"

Vicky frowned. "Yes."

The girls and I shared looks of confusion. We had no idea what they were talking about, but it was enough to make Ric fume. If I were this stranger, I would be scared and do as Ric ordered.

The man looked at us again and chuckled. "Now I get it." He clapped Ric on the shoulder. "I'll let yous play hero for the night, and I'll be back tomorrow."

"Good because we're not done," Ric replied.

"I won't come back alone."

Ric chuckled. "I'm not scared of you, old man."

"We'll see about that." The man opened the front door and finally left.

Ric turned to his mother. "Why don't you go to the store and get the stuff you need to make your famous meatballs."

"Sure thing, and again, make yourselves at home."

"I just want togohome," Clarissa stated with a frown.

"You will, but we need to talk about some things while my mom is at the store."

"I can help cook," Martin offered.

"No. You're our guests." Vicky smiled warmly. "I'll be back shortly."

She gathered her purse and keys, and after she left, Ric pulled a chair from the dining room and sat before us. "I called Frankie after I watched Frank's men dump his and Saffron's body into the Hudson. We came up with a plan, but we're going to need all of you to go along with it."

"What is it?" I asked.

Ric took a deep breath. "I know of a house that Saffron has. We can stage it to look like you all were held there."

"The one on the Hudson?" Martin asked. Ric nodded. "That's where I worked before the penthouse."

"Maybe you can help stage the place to look like it has been lived in recently," Ric suggested.

"How would we show we escaped?" Leanne questioned.

"Frankie and I can go in there and trash the place. Make it look as though someone who has ties to Frank went there looking for him. Maybe put some bullet holes in the walls, and then all of you will walk out. Say you heard the commotion, and when it was silent for several hours, you decided to come out. You saw that no one was there, so you took that opportunity to flee."

"If we were held there, don't you think they'd have locked us up in the basement or something?" Tifarah wondered.

"She didn't lock you up in the penthouse," Ric answered. "You can tell the truth except change the location and how you really got out."

"What about the penthouse?" Carla asked. "There are pools of blood on the floor."

"Frankie, Zell, Quinn, and Jackie are taking care of it," he responded.

"And what if Tyler and Marcus show up and no one is there?" Krissy wondered.

Ric shrugged. "Who cares? It's not like they'll go to the cops and say anything. They've been working as criminals for years."

"And what about you?" I inquired.

"Me?" His brow furrowed.

"Are we supposed to tell the cops that no one guarded us except Madam?"